Create multiple SSIDs (virtual SSID)

The steps to create a secondary SSID that is giving free internet connection in openwrt are the following:

Navigate to Network > Wifi > click on the Add button.

Once the secondary SSID is created, click on the Edit button on the same page and scroll down to the Interface Configuration section. Edit the ESSID field so you can give it another name e.g OpenWrt-2. Create a new interface by entering a name in the “create” field and by pressing the Save and apply button. In our example we created interface “wifi2″. Make sure this interface is ticked once it is created.Save and apply the settings.

Navigate to Network > Firewall. Scroll down to the Zones section and make sure you set the settings for the wifi2 interface according to the screenshot: Save and apply the settings.

Navigate to Network > Interfaces and click on the Edit button for the wifi2 interface. Make sure you the set the settings for the wifi2 interface according to the following two screenshots:Save and apply the settings. That’s it! You have created a secondary SSID that is giving free internet connection in openwrt.

Click on the setup tab, and in the basic setup menu uncheck the following:

Click the Wireless tab and add a new virtual interface. Click add under the virtual interface section.

Set the new virtual interface to unbridged. Leave the ip addresses as all 0s. (If you add any numbers here by accident, you wont be able to undo them, so just remove the interface, hit apply and add a new one again.) Hit apply. Go back to the hotspot tab and under DHCP interface select the virtual interface you want to assign the hotspot to. Virtual interfaces will appear in the order you create them, for example wl0.1 will refer to the 1st virtual interface. Once you are done, the WiFi clients will be able to connect to the splash page through a new SSID, the LAN can connect without going through the splash page. You can hide the original SSID broadcast to ensure there’s no free access. (Wireless-Basic settings, “Wireless SSID broadcast)

You can also check out this article on dd-wrt’s website: Multiple WLANs

Start WinBox or use WebFig and log in to the router. Click on Wireless -> Security Profiles tab -> click on the + sign and create your security settings (what shall be the encryption type, what shall be the password, etc. – on the screenshot you see a suggested configuration), then click OK

Go back to the Interfaces tab, click on the + sign and choose VirtualAP

In the appearing window set the SSID, set the Master Interface to wlan1 (on dual-band devices usually this is the 2.4 GHz radio interface, wlan2 is the 5 GHz one) and set the Security Profile to the one you have just created, then click OK (please note the name of this newly created wireless interface)

Now click on Bridge -> Ports tab -> click on the + sign and select the newly created wireless interface and assign it to the bridge-local bridge, then click OK